


The Angel

by Jena_Aiton



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Balthazar is a little shit, F/F, F/M, John Winchester actually is an A+ parent, More tags to be added, Ruby and Sam went through some ~stuff~, Supernatural AU - Freeform, The Shurley's are dysfunctional, but what else is new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-16 10:04:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15434658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jena_Aiton/pseuds/Jena_Aiton
Summary: Castiel Novak has never known what living in a "functional" family is like.  His mother died when he was very young, and his distraught father left his older sister in charge of him and his brothers.  When he was eleven, he started hearing voices telling him things he couldn't possibly know.  And when he meets his new neighbors, the Winchesters, the voices start getting worst.  With the help of his older brother, a new friend, and the boys next door, Castiel must come to a shocking realization: his family is a lot less normal than he could have ever imagined.





	1. Chapter 1

"Who's up for some food? I'm starving." Gabriel Shurley leaned back in his chair, the legs rising off the ground before falling back on. "Huh? What about you, Cass?"

"I'm not hungry," Castiel Shurley responded, putting down his pencil and glaring at his older brother. "Besides, Anna already ordered food."

"Awww, c'mon Cass," Gabriel said, standing up and coming to sit with his brother. "You can't just draw and read the whole time we're in this town. You have to make some friends." He glanced at Castiel's notepad and smiled at the beautiful drawing of an angel.

"I had a friend," Castiel grumbled. "Back in Connecticut. But you all made me move away from him."

"Uriel?" Gabriel asked. "No, not a real friend. And you may want to step up your game, little buddy. We've been here two months and Anna has three boys lining up to kiss her and I'm sure Lucifer has already joined a gang."

"It is not three boys," Anna said from across the room. "It's only two. And Micheal is my boyfriend! He doesn't count."

"And it's not a gang," Lucifer piped up. "It's just a religious group that meets on Friday nights at midnight in the local casino. And there may be a few drugs. Oh, get a hold of yourself Anna. I'm joking."

"Don't joke about those things, Luc. If you keep saying stuff like that, I won't be able to tell if you're joking or not."

"Awwwww, am I turning into a little delinquent right before your eyes?"

Anna laughed and hit Lucifer lightly on the shoulder. "As a matter of fact, bro, you are."

"Anyways, Uriel was a friend, and you made me leave him," Castiel continued. "So don't bring up me not making any friends."

"I'm sorry about that, Cassie," Gabriel said. "But you know dad. He wanted us to move closer to his friends so that if anything bad happens..."

"...we can get someone to help us pay bills and stuff," Castiel finished, still grumpy. "Y'know, he should be here to help us with that." 

"I know, kiddo," Anna said, sitting next to them on the couch, a steaming cup of tea in her hands. "He said he'll be here for Lucifer's birthday. That's only in two weeks. And if you want, you can call him tonight. He shouldn't be busy."

"Is Luci gonna have a big party?" Castiel asked, looking to Anna.

"Nah, I'm gonna lie low this year," Lucifer replied, plopping next to Anna. "Maybe invite Lillith and Crowley. Maybe Meg. The less the cops catch on the better."

"Oh, cool," Gabriel said. "Your boyfriend's coming."

"Oh shut up, dick."

"Bitch."

"Boys," Anna warned.

"When's dinner," Gabriel whined. "Still hungry."

Lucifer joined in. "Yeah, Ann. Me too."

In a moment of pure coincidence, the doorbell rang. Anna raised her eyebrows as if to say, shut up, food's here, and got up to answer it. She pulled it open, but the takeout man was not standing on the doorstep. Instead, a lady with a tin-foil wrapped dish and two boys stood on the doorstep. One looked about Gabriel's age, and the other was younger.

"Hello," the lady greeted warmly. "I'm Mary Winchester. These are my sons, Sam and Dean. We just wanted to welcome you into the community!"

Anna gave one of her winning smiles. "Aw, how thoughtful. I'm Anna Novak. These boys are my brothers, Lucifer-"

"Sup."

"-Gabriel-"

"Hey."

"-and Castiel."

Castiel was silent.

Mrs. Winchester held out the dish. "Pie. Freshly baked. Looked like you all could use it, with all these boys to feed. How old are they?"

Before Anna had a chance to speak, Gabriel said, "Anna's eighteen, senior year, Lucifer's sixteen, I'm fifteen, and we just found Cas in a box somewhere, no idea about his age."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Castiel is eleven."

"Oh really? So is Sam here. Just about to turn twelve."

"How convenient," Anna laughed. "We were just telling our little introvert he needs to go make some friends."

"Are your parents home?" Mary inquired, peering over Anna's shoulder. "I would love to meet them."

"Our mom passed away a while ago, and dad's work requires him to be in a lot of different places," Anna said. "So no, you won't be seeing them here very much."

"Oh. That's a shame. Where is he right now?"

"North Carolina," Anna responded. "He should be heading back soon, for Luci's birthday."

"Well, I hope to meet him then," Mary smiled. "But as of right now, I have lot's of work to do."

They both said a pleasant goodbye and Anna placed the pie on the counter top. "She seemed nice," she said. "We should get you and Sam acquainted, Cas. It would be nice to have a friend next door. Y'know, Hanna was my neighbor, and she was my best friend..." she trailed off.

"I'm good," Castiel responded.

"No, you're not," Gabriel said, taking the paper from him. "You will meet that boy if it's the last thing you do, Castiel Shurley. If you do, then I will do your chores for a week."

"Nice bribe, but no."

"And I'll 'help' you with your homework for a week," Lucifer added. 

"I can probably do my homework better than you can, Luci."

"Anna?" Gabriel said. "Any help?"

Anna smiled from where she was leaning on the kitchen sink. "If you go to the Winchester's for an afternoon, I'll get dad to stay for an extra two days when he comes."

"Nice try, Anna. Even you can't do that."

"Please Cas? You won't even be alone. I'll go along, maybe I can have tea or something with Mrs. Winchester. We could leave whenever you'd like." Anna was determined to make Cas go to the neighbor's.

Castiel looked up with his brilliant blue eyes. Anna had never known where he gotten them; her mom had emerald eyes and her father had brown murky eyes, like her's and Gabriel's. Lucifer had her mom's eyes. "Would it really make you all happy?"

Everyone nodded vigorously.

"Then fine. Tomorrow, I'll go to their house. But Gabe, you're still doing my chores."

Gabriel smiled.

.......

It was earlier that year that Chuck had called his daughter. It had been three in the morning on a Sunday night, his voice wavering between stable and unsteady. Every few sentences he took a swig of beer.

"Hey Annie," he slurred, holding the phone too close to his mouth. "What's up?"

Anna's breath caught in her throat. "Daddy? Where are you?"

Chuck ignored his daughter's question and instead took another drink. "Where's Lucifer? Not in juvie yet, I hope?"

"Lucifer is in bed," Anna whispered, suddenly realizing how late it was. "Everyone is. It's three a.m."

"Mmmm...is it?"

"Dad, is everything all right?" No one answered for a moment. Anna's heart dropped. Did he hang up? "Dad?"

"Annie?"

"Yeah? Dad what is it?"

"Just...tell Cassie I'm sorry. Tell them all I'm sorry." His voice was so bent that Anna forgot her dad was still talking to her. She remembered what she had told Gabriel once when he was little: It's him, it's dad, y'know? But his voice is different. And all you can think is, that's not your dad anymore.

The line went dead, and Anna just stared at the phone.


	2. Two: An Afternoon at the Winchesters

Castiel knew about Sam Winchester long before he and his mother showed up at his doorstep, offering pie. The two were both in almost all the same classes. Sam was the kid who hung out with the popular kids, but could hardly be considered one himself.

Sam and Cas were swinging in the backyard, not talking. Neither knew what to say. Should Cas bring up his terrible father and deceased mother? His family's history of issues? No. He should wait for Sam to bring something up.

"So," Sam tried. "You excited for the book project?"

Castiel cracked a small smile. "What's that supposed to mean? No one's excited to do a book project."

Sam shrugged. "I...kind of am?"

Castiel laughed. "Don't tell my brother Gabe, but...I kind of am too?"

They looked back at the ground, still swinging.

"What do you think their talking about?" Cas asked.

"Who? Mom and your sister?"

"Yeah. What do you think?"

Sam shook his head. "Probably us. The bad things, not the good things."

"What do you mean?" Castiel said.

"Like, my mom won't tell Anna that I got a 100 on my last test. But she will tell her that last year I got into a lot of trouble with my friend, Ruby."

"Ruby. Ruby Demmings?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Her older sister is dating Lucifer."

Sam laughed. "Lilith is dating your brother?"

"Yes."

Sam stopped swinging. He turned to Cas, his smile gone. "Yeah. They'll only talk about how last year Ruby and I got drunk off of the janitor's beer in his closet."

"They'll probably only talk about how I was falsely diagnosed with Schizophrenia as a toddler," Castiel contributed. "Just the bad things."

Sam smiled at the ground. "Yeah. Just the bad things."

.......

That night, Castiel lay on his bed and tried to close his eyes. The voices were loud that night. So loud they were practically unintelligible. Cas looked over to Gabriel's side of the room, where he was sleeping soundly.

There is no telling...

Don't even, Mirabel! He shall come!

Cas had no idea what they were talking about. These voices had plauged him ever since he was a toddler. He used to fall onto the floor, clutching his ears, screaming for the voices to stop. They started just after their dad left.

Many different doctors gave many different prescriptions. Schizophrenia was the most popular. The catch was, none of the treatments did anything to stop the voices. Eventually Cas said that they were gone, and Anna stopped seeking cures for him.

The only person who knew was Gabriel, who could tell from Cas's tossing in the night. He confronted him one morning at breakfast.

"Cas," he said, making sure he was out of earshot of Anna and Lucifer. "You have a nightmare last night or something?" Cas stabbed his eggs with his fork.

"No."

"Really? You sure couldn't sleep last night."

Castiel forced a smile. "I slept just fine."

"Cas," Gabriel said with exasperation. "We share a room. You can't tell me you slept well last night."

"I did!" he insisted. "I went to sleep at nine, and slept through the entire night."

"Mhm," Gabriel said, raising his eyebrows. "You're hearing the voices again."

Castiel looked at him with terrified eyes. "How did you know?"

"I didn't. I just guessed."

Castiel frowned. "You suck."

And that had been the end of it.

Castiel crawled off of his bed and crossed the room to Gabriel's bed. He gently shook his brother awake.

Gabriel pulled his pillow over his head. "GobacktosleepCassieorIsweartoGod...."

"Gabriel," Castiel persisted. "I can't sleep. The voices...they're bad tonight."

"Go get Anna. We have school tomorrow."

"No," the younger one said. "Just listen to me for two minutes."

Gabriel sat up and yawned. "Fine," he mumbled. "Talk to me bro."

"Her name is Mirabel. One of the voices."

"Isn't that an angel?" asked Gabriel. "Mom used to have a list of angels. I swear her name was on it."

"Probably," Castiel said. "We can ask Pastor Jim on Sunday. He might be able to help us."

"Okay. I might actually look forward to church now."

They sat there for a minute, the silence deafening. Finally, Castiel stood up.

"Thank you, brother. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Cassie, I'll see you in the morning."

They turned out the light.


End file.
